Coolest Thing Ever
by JanxAngel
Summary: More Bobby/Althea. Another prompt, another story.


From the prompt "Helpful hint: Wait until you're sober before trying that again." Another Bobby/Althea (OC) tale. One day I'll set the whole thing down in one long story.

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Bobby couldn't believe his luck. Here he was wandering around New York City in the dead of night, quite drunk, not paying attention to where he was going at all, and he found the coolest thing ever:

A jungle gym.

Not just any old jungle gym though, no this was one of the old style ones, built like a tank and could hold 30 kids before shifting a millimeter. It was a bigger sized one too! Not quite tall enough for him to hold himself off the ground without lifting his feet, but he didn't have to lift his knees up too.

He was just thinking about all the good times he had had as a kid on one of these, thinking about what kind of tricks and stunts he could do back then, when it suddenly occurred to him that maybe he could _still_ do it...

He quickly took off his coat and draped it over the monkey bars and headed for the balance beams. On second thought, he figured he didn't want to risk staggering home on a sprained ankle. The pull up bar was first then. He pulled himself up a few times, happy he could still do any, and then managed to flip himself over to hang from his knees over the bar. After a minute the head rush was getting to him, heightening his already drunken state.

He grabbed the bar, unhooked his legs, and lowered himself to the ground, grinning all the while. This taste of victory convinced him that he should try another trick too.

Bobby went over to the hanging rings and pulled himself up, getting a slow swinging going. He was happily lost in a haze of memory and whiskey and promptly forgot about the rest of the world. He swung himself back and forth a bit, got some side to side motion as well. He remembered the one time he thought about trying to get good at a sport and go to the Olympics, he thought he could work the rings pretty well too. His favorite move was to swing back and forth, then do a flip while letting go. He set himself to swinging a bit harder, gaining more altitude with each pass. Finally he decided it was time and proceeded to kick his feet up and over his head, push his arms out to move the rings away and then fall in a heap into the soft sand below the rings. His mind had executed the maneuver perfectly and if he had still been ten it would have been fine. But he was much taller and bigger now and the two didn't see eye to eye.

"Helpful hint," a female voice said. "Wait until you're sober to try that again."

"I don't think I'd try it at all if I was sober."

"Need a hand?"

"Sure. At least to help get my feet untangled."

She laughed lightly, holding out her hand, "Least I can do for passing a stranger."

"Thanks. What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Just wandering."

"A midnight adventure through the city, seeing where your restless feet take you on your journey through the shadows of the ever wakeful city of light and sound?"

He blinked at her slowly. "Yeah... How'd you know?"

"I guess because I'm doing the same thing. If it's not objectionable to you I'd like very much not to wander alone."

"Oh... sure, of course, yes... If only to keep me out of more trouble like this. The last thing I need is a busted foot."

"Thank you," she said, with much more depth than he would have expected from just someone to walk with.

"You're welcome," Bobby replied sure his confusion would show.

She giggled and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. That was just too... well there's no other word for it but, cute. I was also thanking you for not saying something like 'Well of course you can walk with me, it's not safe for a girl to be out alone.' You can imagine I hear that a lot."

He smiled broadly. "Yes I imagine you do." He took a deep breath, blowing it out in a rush of air. "Well I guess we can get going. My name is Bobby by the way."

"And I am Althea. Very nice to meet you," she replied, shaking his free hand. "If this first meeting is any indication I'm sure we're going to get along famously. I like making new friends, don't you?"

"I don't know. I think I could like it, if I meet more people like you."

"Great!" She took his arm and they began to meander along the park path, and for the first time in his life he thought that maybe, just maybe, there really were other people like him out there.

It was the coolest thing ever.


End file.
